Toilet Fixature

I love moments when I pull of a “McGyver,” because not only are they few and far in-between, but I can win points with my Mentor. For those of you who don't know McGyver, it was a show that I watched as a kid where a guy got out of dangerous situations by fabricating weapons or tools with scotch tape and some bobby pins.

We were having some issues with our high-end toilet, but weren’t exactly sure what was going on. I tend to use the downstairs bathroom, so when issues arise, I’m the last to know. R and the kids all mentioned that there were some “moments” that cropped up when flushing. The toilet worked, so naturally I just ignored it until the real problem surfaced.

Well, sure enough, along came a problem. The toilet didn’t flush anymore, and I had to go investigate. This entailed opening the back hood and dipping my hand it. It turns out that the plug, or what they call the flapper, had broken off the chain, and was no longer attached to the lever. It required a new flapper, but what were supposed to do in the meantime? It would have been a pain to reach back there every time we needed to flush, and then reach down into the water to lift it up. Boy, we sure take toilets for granted, don’t we?

Anyway, I came up with an idea. The chain broke off a rubber loop on the flapper. What I did was stick a safety pin through the rubber (it was toast, anyway), and then attach the chain to the pin. Voila, our toilet worked.

I was so proud of myself that I wanted to tell the guys at the plumbing supply about it, but then held back because they would have probably thought I was just being a big dork. I did win points with R and the kids, however, and that’s all that matters.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.